Category Archives: September

Last night I finally put the finishing touches on my Phoenix. That final thought I had in the last blog worked and I am liking it! What a journey this piece has taken me on. I finished her last night, during the new moon. A time for new beginnings.

Talking about new beginnings I started an e-course with Tracy Verdugo, her Paint Mojo course, it started yesterday and I am getting ready to dive in! I will be posting what we do in her course throughout the next 6 weeks. She even has poetry prompts too… we shall see how that goes!

My kids are experiencing new beginnings too, my youngest, Riley, who was having such a hard time making friends in a new school finally came home with excitement that she has made some friends! I was so happy for her and my heart just warmed up. She had been struggling with the newness of school and wanting to fit in.

My oldest, Madeline, has been struggling with reading and math for years now. This year has been no different. With the new school the old schools strategies were not being implemented and she is failing. I got to talk to her teacher yesterday and we are going to start getting her some help with-in the school with SST and IEP or EIP… I get confused with that But I am so happy she is finally going to start getting the help she needs. Madeline is the hardest working person I know, and to work so hard and not do well gets her so upset, understandably.

I guess that leaves me, my new beginnings for the season, I am in the process of looking for more graphic design work, something I can do while the kids are in school since my oldest needs me home for homework after school. I’m looking for either more freelance work or part time work. I’m also looking for places to display my art. I need to find some coffee shop or really anywhere that I can display my work. Been looking into galleries but I have not found a fit yet. If any of you know of a fit let me know! I am open to anything. 🙂

Today is one of those painting days, where you have time to paint, your all excited and nothing seems to go right. Its a struggle and you doubt everything you do. I finally had to stop to take a breather. I think I wiped off more paint than I left on! I have a great thing for that too, baby wipes! I love them, if you put something on the canvas and you know immediately you don’t like it you can grab a baby wipe and wipe off what you don’t like. I have noticed that you need to be working with good paint, like Golden or Liquitex because if its the cheap kind the baby wipe will wipe off the dried paint too.

So here is the continuation of my bird painting.

So here are my dark triangles, I had dots in them and it made them look like Christmas Trees so I covered them up and it got a bit dark. I was also struggling with the dark triangles not sure if I was liking them and asked for advice from artistic friends that I value their opinion. A few of them thought the middle triangle was a bit distracting, I agreed.

My attempt to cover it up… I also had this idea of a diamond shape, but what to do with it?

At this point I am thinking, I really messed it up, I should of left it. I kept on trying new things and nothing was working. So I took out my baby wipes and wiped away!

And here is where I left it. I like the idea of the diamond shapes being something like jewelry or a design on the body. If it was up to me I would cut the canvas in half. I really like the top part, its the bottom and middle part that I am not in love with.

As I sit here writing I got an idea… hmmmm… I may have to use some chalk and see if it works. I’ll let you know.

I had to add this photo… My drafting table. Yes that is Broccoli and celery and a mushroom top you see. I learned today that Broccoli makes a really cool mark when using it with Fluid Paint!! So fun!

Hello!!! I figured out how you can subscribe to my blog, Yea!!! It took some finagling in WP to figure it out but I got it. So if you would like to get an e-mail when I update my blog then subscribe, it’s on your right under the social media icons.

I have 2 WIP canvas’s going. One is 30×30″ and the other is 36×36″ I tend to lean towards the squares, I like them a lot. Funny story… I was at Binders getting canvas’s 70% off a week ago. I was so excited, I was going to get some big ones that I have never worked on before. So I got a super big one… a 48×48″, I was giddy with excitement. I picked 3 other ones too, smaller but still large. WELL I purchased my canvas’s, had an employee help me to my car with these large canvas’s. I get my other three in my car, it was time for the 48×48″, it wouldn’t fit in the trunk, I didn’t think it would but it would certainly fit in the back seat for sure… NOPE! It was an inch too big!! I was devastated! Talk about my bubble bursting. So we went back in, head down in defeat. I returned the 48×48″ and asked about a 40×40″ canvas and to my surprise they had one! So I snatched it up and it fit beautifully in my car. I learned a valuable lesson that day, I can only paint on canvas’s that will fit in my car. (and with out kids in the back seat!!!) I am saving that 40×40 for Flora Bowleys course in October, can’t wait!

OK, here is one of my canvas’s, its a 30×30″ and where it took me surprised me.

This is Layer 1… Warm colors and a hint of green, just had to.

Layer 2, I added texture to the piece, molding paste and joint tape which is my favorite!

Layer 3… Cool Colors. By the time I was done with this layer I thought… Ick!

Then I added more warm colors to try to tame down the piece a bit. Still not liking it but having fun!

Another layer of blues and greens.

I saw a bird, my bird, my shamanic bird peaking through at me.

I then defined the bird some more. This is where I am in the piece when I think to myself… I don’t want to mess it up and I am afraid to move on.

I had these triangles in the piece earlier and I brought them out some more. Used a new color to add some punch. Not sure where I am going to go from here. I feel a little stuck, its not done, I may start with the feathers and see where that leads me. Usually that helps, just getting myself into the piece again and see where it takes me.

And there you have it, I will keep you posted on how it ends up. I feel like it still has a little ways to go. I like the journey it has taken me on so far.

I saw this photo posted on FB today and it reminded me of my divorce. You see, yesterday I got the final paperwork, the decree saying its final, its done, I am no longer married. Wow what emotions that piece of paper brought up. I am now officially Janine Marie Adamo. I guess its bitter sweet because I always loved my maiden name better. But that paper officially ended a chapter in my life. Today I start new, a single mom and its scary to be honest. Even though I did not want the divorce, I am thinking my marriage was dead since he did. Even with all the therapy and talks it had died long ago. Its just that my pesky depression hid it from me. But you know what, Fall is my favorite time of year, I just love the colors and the crisp air. And what better way to learn a lesson, to see it from the beauty of fall.

This past weekend was a tough one. My girls and I recently moved out of a house and area we loved because of my divorce. Its not final yet but soon will be. This past weekend I met up with my soon to be ex husband at the old house to move the last bit of stuff to each of our new places. We worked together and seemed to have fallen into comfortable patterns which then felt odd. I know that about 50% of us get divorced and its not a new concept but wow, its so new to me. I don’t like it but I am doing my best to move on. Now the fun part! I found my old Barbie Dolls!! Yes Barbie from the 70’s, the clothes and styles were so fun to see and who would of known that Barbie could bring some fun and light to a hard day. My girls who were so bored dove in and had a great time setting up Barbies stuff and playing.

How cool it was to see my girls play with dolls that I played with for hours and hours. It brightened my day to be able to share that with them. Made me think about all the things I share with them, little things like Barbie and big things like this divorce. I know it brings us closer and helps us grow as a family and individually. It’s our journey and we will make it.

I’ve also started 2 canvas’s that I will share my process with you next time. Here’s my palette for layer one. Until next time. Aho.

It amazes me how certain people can be such huge influences in your life and at the same time you have never met. I have a tribe of those friendships, a group of women who are their for me creatively and personally. They mean the world to me, they are rock stars and I have not met any of them face to face. You see we all took this e-course by Flora Bowley. The course itself changed the way I paint and how I look at painting. I now paint larger, and more from the heart. I learned how to let go, paint freely and be brave in my paintings. Flora is another one of those people that has influenced my life in such a way that amazes me, the way one person, one course can alter my path, my journey, my art. Flora’s e-course introduced me to this amazing tribe of women I was talking about, we are from all over the world but we have many things in common and art is a big one. We are blooming together and are such amazing cheerleaders for each other. OK I am starting to get sappy, I just wanted to share this course with you, Flora will be doing another e-course starting Oct 13 and if your interested in checking it out click here. I will be taking the course again in October to help me grow some more. Before I go I just wanted to say one big Thank You to Flora and my Bloom True September 2013 Tribe. xoxoxo

PS! Flora is also doing a FREE BloomTrue Bootcamp and giving away spaces to her October e-course. Check it out! #bloomtruebootcamp

I am blown away by the amazing support I have received! Thank you all for the love and support! I have to thank Kelly Rae Roberts for her amazing e-bookFlying Lessons. She gave me that extra push that I needed to go ahead and jump in. Get my feel wet and just go with it. If you are a creative and wonder to yourself how am I to make my art a full time business then her book is for you. Its on sale now too! No I am not getting anything to promote her book, I just had to share where I got my big push from. You have to start somewhere right, so here is where I am starting. This blog is a WIP (work in progress) So is this site, I have no idea what I am doing. I have spent the past week working in WordPress Forest Gumping my way through. I have no idea how to technically do websites, I figured, I can do this. HA! I am still trying to figure out how to get comments to show and how to tag my website, how to get it on a google search and what is a SEO or Meta ect… If any of you know these answers please please please let me know! 🙂 I’ll share I promise! I need to tag it to have it show on google right? I did get the hosting and the WordPress site and all from GoDaddy… they have been great, answering questions about WordPress even though its not their product. Thank You!!

Hello Everyone! Here I go! I have been sitting on the idea of doing a blog for a while now but I had every excuse possible to wait. I needed a plan, I needed the perfect photo, I needed ideas on what to post, I needed… I sat and wrote what I wanted to write about, my first words were… I’m Scared… then I wrote… Just Do It… SO here I am just doing it. Hi! I am Janine Adamo, really Janine Lancour but soon I will be Janine Adamo, I am a Newly Unwed person, I will be/am a single mom of 2 beautiful girls ages 7 and 9 and I am an artist. I went to SCAD and graduated in 96, I originally went for Illustration and changed my major to graphic design at the last min so I could be more stable. I have been doing graphic design for the past 18 years now. What got me to start painting again you ask… depression is my answer. Yes, I went into a deep depression a few years ago and I decided to start painting, what an idea, once I started I couldn’t stop! Then about a year later I took a painting e-course by the amazing Flora Bowley and I have not been the same ever since. I took her course September 2013, almost a year later here I am writing a blog about my life and art. That is why I am here, to write about my art, show my progress, talk about my experiences and challenges with being a single mom and having a career in art. I do my best with finding freelance deign work during the day and painting at night when my babies are sleeping. At the moment I do art festivals and I am trying my hardest to get into galleries. Which I am finding out is not easy. Not at all! I am thinking this is a good spot to end for today. Thank you for stopping by!